captioning performed by vitac it's hard to see how this ends well if both sides don't do that. our assessment is the government -- the opposition does not appear strong enough to overthrow the government and it's not clear to us that there would be a unified opposition, if that did take place. and it also appears and it

should be you would think clear to assad and his people now that it doesn't appear any amount of prepregs is going to stop the opposition or the rebellion or the demonstrations. it would be grateful helpful if we could get all members of the security council pulling towards a resolution. >> right. i need some questions in my hands. is somebody bringing them? i assume you're asking questions. how many of you have written questions down on a card? we need this. >> will you take them verbally? >> here he is. the question man has arrived. this was the plan we had. okay. sorry. we've received questions on keystone xl. what a surprise. here they are. americans are concerned about increased greenhouse gas

emissions from oil sands. should companies be forced to offset their oil sands production with greener production? and if keystone xl can be approved after the u.s. presidential election, will this affect your government's position on the northern gate way pipeline? >> right. first of all, i think -- first of all, everything i've seen in the united states indicates pretty overwhelming public opinion in favor of the keystone pipeline. president obama has told me repeatedly that this decision will ultimately be made on the basis of its merits and i have no reason not to believe him on that. but in terms -- look, i think there's two things -- three things that are very important to say about this keystone pipeline. the first is one should not in this.ay minimize the sheer this has the capacity of

employing up to 30,000 people on both sides of the border. this is a huge energy project that will have enormously positive employment and economic activity effects across a range of industries in both countries, which is why business and labor are so strongly supportive of it. secondly, we talked about this earlier, energy security. the united states -- it is not possible for the united states to get a friendlier and more secure supply of oil than -- anywhere than from canada. and if one looks at the options, middle east, venezuela, i mean it's so obvious that this is the better option for energy security. the third is that the environmental impacts of this should not be exaggerated. you know, oil sands oils while they are heavy in emissions are

no heavier than typical heavy crude, no heavier than venezuelaans, which is where a lot of the oil will be from. not that there aren't environmental problems in oil sands because they are. but they should not be unique or outside of the oil industry. that's just not the case. >> they offset. >> the second part of your question, would approval of this change our mind. the answer is no. the very fact that a no could even be said underscores to our country we must diversify our energy export markets. but, as i say, we have taken a significant price hit by virtue of the fact that we're a captive supplier and that does not make sense in terms of the broader

interest of the canadian economy. and, look, i'm a strong and firm believer in the importance, not just the economic importance of our relationship but the security importance and the importance of the united states and the world but we cannot -- we cannot take this to the point where we are creating risk and significant economic penalty to the canadian economy and to not diversify to asia when yash is the growing part of the world. it just simply makes no sense to canada. >> canada has every right to take that position. i don't speak for the obama administration but do i think most americans would prefer to buy oil from canada than from a long list of other countries. >> i would hope so. >> but i also think in our skri kri with a strong environmental movement, there is this issue, if you could just say a few word about offsets. eight heavy crude and we buy it from other employes.

and there were some concerns, i assume there still are, about the routing of the pipeline. >> my understanding is the routing concerns have been addressed in nebraska itself. you know, offsets, look, i'm -- i'm not sure i'm much of a believer in offsets. i think if you're concerned about emissions, you find a way of controlling emissions. offsets are a wave pretending you've addressed emissions when you really haven't. >> changing the subject. [ laughter ] >> the question is when will canada decide to form a customs union? >> i think that's a purely theoretical question because i certainly -- you know, since we've signed nafta, there's obviously been a tremendous growth in trade and integration

in supply chains between our economies but i have sensed no appetite, particularly in the united states, to take the economic relationship to any fundamentally deeper level than it is today in terms of things like a custom union. so i just don't think that's in the cards, particularly in the context of nafta. and it probably has more to do with the mexican american relationship than with the american-canadian relationship. what we have done with the obama administration is we have this beyond the border initiative where we are finding ways of avoiding dupely cat of screening, when we're finding ways of doing more and more of our screening and security checks on the perimeter of the continent are rather than at the border. so these are ways to significantly increase integration and trade and

toughism flow across the border. but i don't think -- i just don't see a customs union being in the cards. >> i also think those are very smart initiatives. another term for that is a smart border. and pushing the border out that way is smart. we did that in the united states with something called the safe ports act, which requires cargo to be screened at the point of embarkation in china or some other asian port, pick that, ca the oceanso priorities and it seems to me that initiative was a very healthy one. >> where it's trying to adopt the view of something -- i forget what the exact term is, checked once and verified twice. once it's checked in one country, it good in both. >> i'm checking my watch but i still think we have more time.

i can use a few more questions. here's one. you have made the arctica central. is it place for cooperation or competition? where does canada fit? >> there's probably a place for a little bit of both. it is true that -- it is true that more of the ice is melting. ilt also true that i think the economics of commodity prices are going to drive resource developments in areas like the arctic where costs are higher and where traditionally it's been harder to make economic projects viable. we have put -- a big part of our country is actually in the

arctic region. we put a big emphasis on securing our sovereign there and seeing those resources develop not just for the benefit of the country but particularly for the economic opportunity of the people who live there. through the arctic council and others, we do cooperate. we're cooperating on, for instance, on the united nations convention on the law of the sea and the mapping of the, a technical sea bed and the resolution of various claims. but those things all said, there will be, as there are in all parts of the world these days, there will also be some increasingly intense competition for economic activity in that part of the world. >> changing the subject back to the border, can we do more on each side of the border, such as biometrics to allow good people to cross faster and easier? >> beyond the border initiative

i mentioned earlier, enhanced investment in biometrics, in information sharing between our various security agencies, those are all part of the program that we put together with the obama administration. the principle is really very simple. it how do you we -- how do we increase the ability of ordinary businesses, ordinary travelers and tourists, friends and neighbors to cross the border regularly and seamlessly while at the same time being able to identify risks and threats and identify them early and often away from the border. biometrics, information sharing are part of the answer to that equation. i'm of the strong view that, you know, we've seen this all over the place. i'm of the strong view that checking millions and millions of people, making them go through lineups, making them go through screening is not in and

of itself an effective way to identify the potentially dangerous. we have to have more sophisticated ways of doing that. >> i think you were just describing tsa. but having talked to the -- having been in at the creation, i just would say a couple things. one, we're getting smarter about how we do that. but, two, we have in our country and i assume you do, too, layered security. we don't just have one way to try to catch people. and these things are all deterrents. unfortunately they're also, some of them, enormous inconveniences and seem very silly. i would just point out one of the things that tsa is always hit with is why do little kid have to checked, or babies? well, if some of the folks trying to attack us have no respect for human life and are happy to use babies or little kid, put explosives underneath them or strap things on to them,

it's highly unfortunate. therefore we do need process who would not in most cases be suspects. >> but changing the subject to health care, which didn't come up, it kind of a big topic in this country in the last several weeks. as the head of a country with longstanding, universal health care, do you see this as a budgetary burden or bloom? thank you, questioner. pretty interesting. >> it depends on the context. many canadian businesses will tell you having universa payer system, simplifies life for them and reduces the cost of doing business. on the other hand, we can't fool people and not tell you that the growth of -- the sheer growth of

health care budgets in canada is a serious concern to all senior governments. health care budgets over a long period of time have been groving faster than our economy. now mind you you make, jane, would i make this observation. i know the health care system of the united states is very different than the health care system of canada. all western developed countries have variants of a mixed health care system. my observation would be that in spite of these various differences, the problems that aflekt vi afflict virtually all of them are the same, the cost and keep groping fast r than the ability of the western country to sustain nick growth. why is that? one is the fact of the heart is

that nowadays we can do so much in terms of raek, so much in terms of curing people and extending life. in fact, if we have an unlimited amount supply of money, we can do an unlimited amount of things. we don't have an unlimited supply of money but our capacity as grown enormously over the past couple of generations. the other problem is that our economies are not growing fast enough. this is something i've talked to the canadian people about. we just won a national election in canada by emphasize williing canadian economy has done so much better than other economies. but the truth of the matter is that knows a very good measure because most developed economies aren't growing the way they need to.

one of the things is finding ways of increasing the gross economy and not just fess call or the regulatory measures i talked about but innovation and regulation so that we can keep growing our economy and keep funding programs like our health care program, which our citizens want and our citizens value. but the truth of the matter is and i try too say this as a wake-up call to the can adians and i would say in europe. when you see these big emerging economies, these people are smart, they are hungry and hard working. and unless we find ways of competing with them and growing, we're going to be under considerable pressure regardless

of what the nature of our health care system is. that's the real challenge we have. >> i sure -- i think everyone agrees the challenges are hard. one of the big issues that came up in the health care fight, i was in congress, was this idea of rationing care and the disproportionate amount spent at the end of light than at the beginning of life. i'm assume you have these issues -- the government is the sole provider see that lands directly on the government's lap. frankly, figuring out who to make the betts use of the dollars are increasingly difficult decisions. >> all right. well week have a lot of other questions and i think i can't really see but i think we have

11 minutes too go or so so let pak few random one. this one about the transpacific partnership. it did come up about the ttp and canada's interest in joining it and mexico, too. i think president obama was asked whether he'd support that and i believe he said yes. >> he was very positive in his kmnts. >> the question is when will canada join the ttp? you're the prime minister. you're expected to know the answer to this. >> we have a very great trade association jaagenda. our government took office in 2006. if spite of the fact that we're one of the most open in the world, train dahas signed with

50 ears, including the european, who are still optimistic of dining a union the with, in johnson, and india. i we already have agreements with three of the countries ins transpore civic partnerships and our strong sense is that most of the members of the transpacific partnership would like to see canada join. i think there's some debate, particularly within the administration, about the merits of that. but our strong view is if we're to build on the north american advantage, the integration we have here in nafta and frankly to get around the table where you want some people to have some shared interest, it makes sense for all three of the nafta partners to be part of this. >> i'll put these together.

we have a couple more environmental questions and then another border question. you have just instituted spending cuts. this questioner has heard there will be cuts to air quality programs. he or she wants to know whether canadian scientists can continue to collaborate with their u.s. counterparts. and another question but it could be answered together is what role should hydropower play in canada's clean energy exports to the u.s.? >> first of all, just on the government's budgetary savings, the scale of our savings program in canada is really very modest compared to what you're reading about in most woorn developed -- it involves a 2% reduction in federal spending over a three-year period. so these are not enormous sums

of money. what we are trying to do in all kinds of areas of government is find ways that we can deliver similar services and good to the canadian public at frankly a lesser cost than we've been doing i believe there's room to do that. i hear roomors about that here in the federal government as well. the fact that we engage in air quality programs in lab racial with our american counterparts, that isn't going to change. what was the second part of that? >> hydropower. >> we're already a significant exporter of hydroenergy to the united states. manitoba does some and we have a fairly integrated electricity market between our pro countries already.

but being looks, there's lots of capacity for canada to dramatically increase its hydroelectric power and to export more of that power to the united states. this is one form of energy we will not be exporting to asia. >> that would be tricky. >> yeah. we have tremendous capacity for growth here. and there are regulatory sides border. we think it would make sense for the united states to find a way to purchase more clean hydropower from canada. >> the new bridge between windsor and detroit would help make our border seamless. why no forge an agreement with president obama on this? >> yeah. we have been working with american governments for some years.

some of you may know there are unusual circumstances across the detroit-windsor crossing we're trying to overcome. we think it is ef sense -- well, you know, let's be frank about that. there is a bridge there today that has a private owner. and my understanding of the private owner's position is that he not om owns the bridge but somehow owns the broader crossing. governments on both sides of the border have the right to make sure they have the growing to be accommodated across infrastructure. we have found in terms of your responsibilities on your side of the border, we find ouf sefs primarily deal with the state of michigan. that's where the locus of authority really is here.

and we have a very good working relationship with the governor there and we believe we're making significant progress to realizing a new crossing hopefully before i leave office. >> well, at least we can agree that's not a bridge to nowhere. >> well, this is the biggest single -- this is the biggest single corridor of trade in the world. and the concept that somebody could claim that he privately owns it all is to me -- is to me ludicrous. but to some degree that is the situation we're dealing with today. >> good question, don't you agree? thank you, folks. we have five minutes. here's one on immigration. how have canadian immigration policies helped to atabt highly skilled labor? and there was a question at noon put to you about visa policy.

especially visa policy with mexico. we're not doing so well on immigration policy. how are you doing? >> well, you know, like the united states canada has always been a land of immigrants. i like to remind people, as in the united states, you will hear lots of krit teeks of canadian immigration policy, but the fact of the matter is all of the deficiencies of canadian immigration policy that immigration has been and immigrants have been overwhelmingly successful in canada. you know the diversity and dynamism and energy and hope that immigrants bring to our two countries, i don't think we can really overstate how important

that is. you can look at immigrants just as people who contribute to the economy but they provide a vitality and excitement about our nations that really is unmatched anywhere. and there are so few places in the world. we like to think we're number one in the terms of somebody to become a full-fledged part of the community. that is a very unique experience and in a global used world where we're increasingly all living much closer than we realize. you go to a country like japan, it's a wonderful country but japan has an aging population problem as we you'll japan doesn't have the economic and

been fit and amalgamation benefit, immigration has been a great this evening for both our countries, particularly for canada. however, our government has said in the context of the labor market challenges that making sure economic better forced and -- of making some significant changes to our immigration system so it is more targeted on this economic and labor force needs. it serves those needs well but often not as much by desiep as it should be. >> that's an ongoing subject of discussion here, too, as if comprehensive immigration reform i, which we came close to enacting a few years back, strongly supported by president

bush 43. sadly we missed it just by a couple of votes. i'll ask you one more of these questions but i want to you comment on this. at least i heard from our security folks over the years that is it's much easier to get into canada than it is to our country and that one of the worries was some folks who were not appealing and then cry to cross the botd -- border. illegal immigration is a challenge in both countries. >> yeah, we work very closely with our american counterparts on all of these security challenges and some of the ones you mentioned, there has been really outstanding cross-border cooperation. but i would say just in terms of

i sometimes hear these concerns about dangerous immigration from canada. i will tell you today beyond a shadow of a doubt that there's a high farer -- i don't think anyone would argue. >> i can also tell you in terms of muft across the border, undesirable individual or weapons, there's far more than comes north than goes out. i think that's just something that's important to remember. >> well, yes. [ applause ] >> i think our clock has run out. but you're so quick, i thought this would be a good end. sadly we couldn't get to every question. what in your experience is the greatest myth people hold about canada and canadians? [ laughter ] >>